Write it down on paper they said
Define it with words
That do not exist
Ambiguous
Like my identity
I’m
Chinese
American
With a hint
of Vietnam
My ancestors speak
languages
Dialects
A melting mixture
Hailing from the mother land
Golden stars against a red backdrop
Mandarin like oranges
Soft rolling tongues
Compliment the pinch of the nose
Moving south
to the mountains of Fujian
Spoken with a sleepy slur
Yet
Booming from the deep guttural place
Deep within
Then
Moving further down
to the cosmopolitain city of
Hong Kong
The peak
Where the tongue lays flat
Teeth gently
Kissing taste buds
Finally
I arrive
In my mother’s womb
across the sea
Where the people before me lose their hold
On my tongue
And I speak
American.
I am not placed into this world
precisely
Neatly like a bow.
But you
Generalize
Me
As Asian.